Samoa's measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing

Publication details

Language

English

Country

Samoa

The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) completed its assessment of Samoa's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) system. The assessment is a comprehensive review of the effectiveness of Samoa's AML/CFT system and its level of compliance with the FATF Recommendations. 

The report was formally adopted by at the APG Annual Meeting in July 2015.  The findings of this assessment have also been reviewed and endorsed by the FATF. 

Samoa has significantly increased its overall levels of technical compliance with the FATF Recommendations since the 2006 assessments. However, further improvements, some substantial, remain. 

Samoa has received strong results in relation to international co-operation and moderate results in relation to a number of areas, including risk, policy and co-ordination and preventive measures. Despite some measures being in place, it has only low levels of effectiveness in supervision, use of financial intelligence, money laundering investigation and prosecution.  Samoa has no measures in place for proliferation financing financial sanctions. 

APG - Mutual Evaluation of Samoa - 2015

Filename
Mutual-Evaluation-Report-Samoa-2015.pdf
Size
2 MB
Format
application/pdf
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Technical Compliance

Ratings which reflect the extent to which a country has implemented the technical requirements of the FATF Recommendations.

Samoa Mutual Evaluation 2015

R.1 - Assessing risk & applying risk-based approach
PC
R.2 - National cooperation and coordination
PC
R.3 - Money laundering offence
PC
R.4 - Confiscation and provisional measures
LC
R.5 - Terrorist financing offence
PC
R.6 - Targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism & terrorist financing
PC
R.7 - Targeted financial sanctions related to proliferation
NC
R.8 - Non-profit organisations
PC
R.9 - Financial institution secrecy laws
C
R.10 - Customer due diligence
PC
R.11 - Record keeping
C
R.12 - Politically exposed persons
PC
R.13 - Correspondent banking
PC
R.14 - Money or value transfer services
C
R.15 - New technologies
PC
R.16 - Wire transfers
PC
R.17 - Reliance on third parties
PC
R.18 - Internal controls and foreign branches and subsidiaries
LC
R.19 - Higher-risk countries
NC
R.20 - Reporting of suspicious transactions
LC
R.21 - Tipping-off and confidentiality
C
R.22 - DNFBPs: Customer due diligence
PC
R.23 - DNFBPs: Other measures
PC
R.24 - Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons
PC
R.25 - Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal arrangements
PC
R.26 - Regulation and supervision of financial institutions
PC
R.27 - Powers of supervisors
PC
R.28 - Regulation and supervision of DNFBPs
PC
R.29 - Financial intelligence units
LC
R.30 - Responsibilities of law enforcement and investigative authorities
C
R.31 - Powers of law enforcement and investigative authorities
LC
R.32 - Cash couriers
LC
R.33 - Statistics
LC
R.34 - Guidance and feedback
PC
R.35- Sanctions
PC
R.36 - International instruments
PC
R.37 - Mutual legal assistance
LC
R.38 - Mutual legal assistance: freezing and confiscation
LC
R.39 - Extradition
LC
R.40 - Other forms of international cooperation
LC

C = compliant   |   LC = largely compliant     |   PC = partially compliant   |   NC = non-compliant

Effectiveness

Ratings that reflect the extent to which a country's measures are effective. The assessment is conducted on the basis of 11 immediate outcomes, which represent key goals that an effective AML/CFT system should achieve.

Ratings that reflect the extent to which a country's measures are effective. The assessment is conducted on the basis of 11 immediate outcomes, which represent key goals that an effective AML/CFT system should achieve.

Samoa Mutual Evaluation 2015

IO1
ME
IO2
SE
IO3
LE
IO4
ME
IO5
ME
IO6
LE
IO7
LE
IO8
ME
IO9
ME
IO10
ME
IO11
LE

HE = high level of effectiveness   |   SE = substantial level of effectiveness    |   ME = moderate level of effectiveness   |   LE = low level of effectiveness

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